What is Grace & Light really about?
At the heart of Grace & Light lies a concern to see that the Gospel is received in the Church and transforms it. These two things are found in every key statement of Grace & Light.
One highly significant fact about Africa is that people go to church. In France 11% of those who self-identify as Christians are church-goers; in the UK it is 20%. But in Nigeria it is a world leading 88% (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_attendance#Attendance_by_country).
When almost everyone goes to church, it may not mean much spiritually. Some attend churches which have a quite different ‘gospel’, that of material prosperity. In other churches, many assume they’ve responded to the Gospel when nothing of the kind has actually happened. It’s because they just don’t understand it – no matter which Christian tradition they come from.
In response, Grace & Light’s primary, unique focus is on preaching the biblical Gospel to churchgoers who mostly consider themselves Christians. This Gospel centres on sharing in Jesus’ death and resurrection, thereby ending life lived for self in sin and entering one created anew in his righteousness and lived for him.
We preach this Gospel in any church which will open its pulpit to us as well as in many schools. And it doesn’t end there: we continue in partnership to help those made new by the Gospel share their lives with each other in love and also bring Christ’s righteousness wherever they find themselves in society.
We follow up preaching with teaching and facilitation, organising workshops which help people apply the Gospel in their daily lives, covering issues of work and corruption, wealth and poverty, HIV/AIDS, inequality, sexual and gender-based violence. We also train volunteers to participate in our ministry in churches and schools.
This means Grace & Light is a mission movement – only our distinctive mission field is churches – churches of any kind, for all can move deeper into the transforming Gospel.
Grace and Light International Ministry is headquartered in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. There are linked organisations raising funds in the United Kingdom, France and the United States.
